UN Chief Calls On Global Community To Secure Existing Arms Control Treaties

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a message to the Nagasaki annual peace ceremony on Friday urged the international community to preserve the existing arms control treaties

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th August, 2019) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a message to the Nagasaki annual peace ceremony on Friday urged the international community to preserve the existing arms control treaties.

"The international community must join forces to safeguard the security benefits that existing treaties bring to us all," Guterres said. "We must work together to strengthen cooperation, trust and transparency, which are the foundation for real dialogue and negotiations."

Guterres said that in light of the rising nuclear tensions and the demise of the existing disarmament treaties, the threat of nuclear war currently persists. He added that the only guarantee against the risk of such war would be a total elimination of nuclear weapons, which is the United Nations' "highest disarmament priority.

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On August 2, the United States officially withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, six months after announcing its decision to suspend obligations under the treaty over Russia's alleged violations of the accord. Russia has denied violating the INF Treaty and has pointed to the United States' moves in Europe in breach of the accord.

On August 6, 1945, the US Air Force dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing up to 146,000 people, and three days later dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki killing up to 80,000 people. The use of the atomic bombs effectively concluded World War II and the attacks on the two Japanese cities have been the only instances of the use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict.